January 13th, 2010.
Today is a glorious day! Today is the day where our great nation...
Today is a glorious day! Today is the day where our great nation...
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The Beginning
January 13th, 2010.
Today is a glorious day! Today is the day where our great nation, unhindered by the fall of the Soviet Union like so many others, has come to make itself known as a truly great and awesome power! We have overcome the trials and tribulations of a nation in the embryonic stages, resisting the temptations to adjoin lesser powers, to give in to both internal and external pressures, and to demonstrate the ability to innovate! Of course, such a path could not be charted without a plan, and your rule over these peoples was accomplished by a grand strategy that has shaped your nation in the process.
Inhabiting a small region of a few thousand square kilometers between the areas of Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, and nearing Serbia, it is mostly a landlocked region. A bit of a general mesh of urban and rural, but you do not possess direct sea access; your water sources mostly rivers and a few small lakes. Of course, if you're ambitious enough, you could attempt to push some of your neighbors around and try to claim sea access, or find some other means of gaining access to precious oceanic trade routes (or air traffic!) Of course, this merely serves to give you an idea of the glorious nation which you now unquestionably rule!
[ ] Unity through Strength. With a strong military background you are effectively a dictator, but an effective dictator at that. So long as your army remains fairly well-funded, you will have their support, and a strong military can serve to reinforce your police in times of crises.
[ ] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.
[ ] Strength through Power. Literal power, in this case. As a wealthy industrialist, it was only natural that you apply those talents into your political career. Holding the infrastructure of the nation in your hands, it became apparent to the masses that a person of personal fortune would be needed to keep the economy's pulse.
[ ] Write in.
This would be invaluable in time, but for now, it is time to reflect on your relationships. All of these skills would have been lost without your trusty lieutenant...
[ ] The Spy: The art of Spying and Infiltration. This person knows not just how to do it themselves, but also how to recruit spy rings, find spies and set up counter-intelligence. You start with one spy ring. These spy rings are focused on one area, be it a specific Group, Counter-Intelligence or even Security. They may be used to find out things that others want to hide from you and protect your own secrets.
[ ] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.
[ ] The Administrator: Money makes the world go around. They have the knack for ploughing through paperwork due to experience, finding the flaws in the accountancy structure and organising the work load to be more efficient. Admin is used to re-organise your nation to be more efficient, to be more profitable and to run smoother. After all, the more you make, the happier your people will be.
[ ] The Demagogue: The Silver Tongue. They can charm the birds down from the trees and convince a banker that you have let him have the advantage while he hands over his entire vault. This person holds the power to persuade people to follow your ideas. To motivate them to work harder and to buy your bullshit. They can cut through resistance and weak wills and bring them onto your side.
[ ] The Warrior: The only thing that travels faster than rumor and gossip, is a bullet. With the Warrior, they don't just know how to fight, they can fight well. The Warrior is a multiplier to the value of the troops they are personally leading. It is also a person far more resilient to assassination attempts.
[ ] The Researcher: The world moves fast. Technology moves faster. No sooner have you gotten used to a product then a newer and better version is being released. They lead the way through your personal developments. Their genius intellect has created new products that have helped make your fortune and build up your nation.
From this, we might yet know how our fair nation has, well, fared!
Today is a glorious day! Today is the day where our great nation, unhindered by the fall of the Soviet Union like so many others, has come to make itself known as a truly great and awesome power! We have overcome the trials and tribulations of a nation in the embryonic stages, resisting the temptations to adjoin lesser powers, to give in to both internal and external pressures, and to demonstrate the ability to innovate! Of course, such a path could not be charted without a plan, and your rule over these peoples was accomplished by a grand strategy that has shaped your nation in the process.
Inhabiting a small region of a few thousand square kilometers between the areas of Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, and nearing Serbia, it is mostly a landlocked region. A bit of a general mesh of urban and rural, but you do not possess direct sea access; your water sources mostly rivers and a few small lakes. Of course, if you're ambitious enough, you could attempt to push some of your neighbors around and try to claim sea access, or find some other means of gaining access to precious oceanic trade routes (or air traffic!) Of course, this merely serves to give you an idea of the glorious nation which you now unquestionably rule!
[ ] Unity through Strength. With a strong military background you are effectively a dictator, but an effective dictator at that. So long as your army remains fairly well-funded, you will have their support, and a strong military can serve to reinforce your police in times of crises.
[ ] Strength through Unity. You were a demagogue and social firebrand. Your gun was a microphone, and words your bullets; scything down droves of competitors with scathing social commentary. The people all but rioted to put you in office, though the support of the people can be a fickle thing, especially as they demand their bread and circuses.
[ ] Strength through Power. Literal power, in this case. As a wealthy industrialist, it was only natural that you apply those talents into your political career. Holding the infrastructure of the nation in your hands, it became apparent to the masses that a person of personal fortune would be needed to keep the economy's pulse.
[ ] Write in.
This would be invaluable in time, but for now, it is time to reflect on your relationships. All of these skills would have been lost without your trusty lieutenant...
[ ] The Spy: The art of Spying and Infiltration. This person knows not just how to do it themselves, but also how to recruit spy rings, find spies and set up counter-intelligence. You start with one spy ring. These spy rings are focused on one area, be it a specific Group, Counter-Intelligence or even Security. They may be used to find out things that others want to hide from you and protect your own secrets.
[ ] The General. The General knows how best to organize and train his troops to get the best out of them. He knows how to position them in the field with the right equipment for the job. The great generals apply the lessons they have learnt to all areas of their life, treating everything as War where only the best can survive. A General can train troops to be more efficient, better and more skilled for the same base cost limited only by their personal prowess.
[ ] The Administrator: Money makes the world go around. They have the knack for ploughing through paperwork due to experience, finding the flaws in the accountancy structure and organising the work load to be more efficient. Admin is used to re-organise your nation to be more efficient, to be more profitable and to run smoother. After all, the more you make, the happier your people will be.
[ ] The Demagogue: The Silver Tongue. They can charm the birds down from the trees and convince a banker that you have let him have the advantage while he hands over his entire vault. This person holds the power to persuade people to follow your ideas. To motivate them to work harder and to buy your bullshit. They can cut through resistance and weak wills and bring them onto your side.
[ ] The Warrior: The only thing that travels faster than rumor and gossip, is a bullet. With the Warrior, they don't just know how to fight, they can fight well. The Warrior is a multiplier to the value of the troops they are personally leading. It is also a person far more resilient to assassination attempts.
[ ] The Researcher: The world moves fast. Technology moves faster. No sooner have you gotten used to a product then a newer and better version is being released. They lead the way through your personal developments. Their genius intellect has created new products that have helped make your fortune and build up your nation.
From this, we might yet know how our fair nation has, well, fared!
Last edited:
Beginning Cultural/Religion Q&A
Nice! Getting a solid cast of people participating, which is what I like to see. 
So! To answer your questions, Redtape...
1) You're more than welcome to ask questions! I encourage it, even, if you're uncertain.
2) Your people aren't any one particular distinct ethnic group. You've got Slovenians, Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Bosniaks... The exact demographics shift a bit considering you're a nation with plenty of land borders on all sides, especially given that your micronation's just started to stabilize, but you're looking at a pretty multicultural population. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.
3) Catholicism is pretty strong, as well as other denominations of Christianity. This, at least, is thankfully not a source of much tension. There's been a growing Muslim population, however, thanks to some emigrants from Afghanistan (amongst other things.)
4) It's basically right about where Croatia/Slavonia would exist on the map.
So! To answer your questions, Redtape...1) You're more than welcome to ask questions! I encourage it, even, if you're uncertain.
2) Your people aren't any one particular distinct ethnic group. You've got Slovenians, Hungarians, Serbians, Croats, Bosniaks... The exact demographics shift a bit considering you're a nation with plenty of land borders on all sides, especially given that your micronation's just started to stabilize, but you're looking at a pretty multicultural population. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.
3) Catholicism is pretty strong, as well as other denominations of Christianity. This, at least, is thankfully not a source of much tension. There's been a growing Muslim population, however, thanks to some emigrants from Afghanistan (amongst other things.)
4) It's basically right about where Croatia/Slavonia would exist on the map.
Turn 1 - It Begins.
January 13th, 2010.
Turn 1.
Each turn covers the span of 1 year.
[X] Strength Through Unity.
[X] The Administrator.
Trait Gained: Demagogue 1.
Hero Unit Gained: Howard Hill (Administrator 1)
You are a leader, and like any leader, you have presence. If the microphone was your gun and words your bullets, then the podium was the nest from which you made the nation a killing field. With a head full of acidic commentary that ranged from nasty to illiterate sociopathic warmongering despot, those that stood between you and the throne (there was a throne, actually, albeit only for a little while) were quick to try and keep out of the public eye. Of course, all the PR spin in the world doesn't actually get results when you're up against communist rebels, US-backed anarchists, Chechen ultranationalists, and even a couple Bosnians trying to institute their own mafia state. Thus, you were forced to rely (more than once on your zealous fighters and soldiers of freedom and fortune. Fighting was fierce, and while the people adored you, your enemies seemed to hate you with an almost polar equivalence. More than one attempt was made on your life, which certainly told you that you were moving in the right direction!
At your side was one H. Hill, a former bureaucrat that once worked for the European Union. An accountant of no apparent note, his experience in affairs of international commerce made him a ready ally. Persuaded to your cause by the promise of advancement and power under the new government, he is a talented administrator who has ensured your new government has sufficient manpower. He has a slight drinking problem, though his loyalty seems quite strong despite that.
In the end, however, the nation was soon yours and the people stand ready to enact your will.
GNP: $33B with -2% growth, Revenue $5B, Budget $9B, Debt $11B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (67%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption ???
Regulations: Business 5, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
The Budget
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
To call these times a bit rocky would be somewhat of an understatement. Having led your nation through might of arms and fiery rhetoric through a free-for-all between communist insurgents, capitalist-backed rebels, Russian saboteurs, CIA provocateurs, and a government ripe to implode, your nation has been a very, very busy warzone. Many people have fled the country in the interests of seeking asylum elsewhere.
Yet for those that have remained, you promise a new, stronger dawn.
Of course, even as you admire the nice sunrise from your palatial estate, you cannot quite help but find yourself a bit beleaguered by problems.
The first and foremost of these is that your nation's manufacturing mostly relies on a mixture of electricity and lumber, though you do have some petroleum and chemical refinement industries (though these are mostly foreign-held corporations that pay taxes locally.) Your nation does actually have the benefit of a small titanium vein (which is where a large part of your budget comes from), but exploitation of it is pretty much already peak without bringing in more cutting-edge tools and paying out the nose in the process.
Your budget is heavily skewed, to say the least. While you thankfully possess an administrator, who informs you that radical budget changes will have consequences (and suggests limiting such changes to no more than five percent a year, except in times of dire crisis), he also comments that a number of the bureaucrats that now fill the various departments and the national bank seem to be quite corrupt. "Skimming from the top" seems to be customary here.
As well as this, to say that the war has caused heavy infrastructure damage is an understatement. Running electricity was scarce in many areas before, but even the cities find themselves suffering rolling blackouts and brownouts. Running water thankfully isn't to much of an issue, seeing as most firefights don't take place underground, but there's still some minor damage -- and a lot of towns still rely on well water and old gas and water systems from back in the 60's.
Water contamination is another issue. Several companies, including one major US corporation, have been using fringe Eastern European nations as a dumping ground for toxic waste for many decades now. While this practice has not yet been instituted, there have been mentions of financial rewards for countries that allow them to "store" their hazardous waste within your borders. Without sea access, however, you are almost entirely dependent on your handful of semi-clean lakes and running rivers to supply the bulk of your drinking and industrial water supplies. With environmental regulation being so-so, even your own industries have been 'forgetful' now and again, especially during the course of the war when demand was high and regulations all but unenforceable.
Elsewhere, you find yourself confronted by a massive wealth of spending versus your rather meager revenues. Your military's arms and weapons are fairly modern, or at least, modern relative to your neighbors. The issue is that without continued military spending, or an increase in budget relative to the decrease in spending, the military is likely to find itself as a dearth of maintenance parts, munitions, and fuel to keep the armed forces running at peak. A dangerous situation for any fledgling despot.
With education at an all-time low and rationing only just recently having come to an end, things stay rather shaky, and this is only further compounded by the fact that the vice trades appear to be alive and well. Drug smuggling, human trafficking, and organized crime are alive and well. Meth is the drug of choice for the youth of this country given its cheap nature, and light bulbs tend to be used for things other than lighting given the current electricity problems. Such a thing can be a boon, however, if you're looking to make some revenues off the addictions and immense profits available to those who partake in the drug trade.
The question is, what shall your new nation be called, and how shall you handle its first few steps forward? You may look to your advisers if you wish for an explanation on any particular issues, but there is, first and foremost, an important question...
What shall this glorious newheap of a nation be called?
NB: A Note on Turns.
Each turn, players will have two personal actions via their dictator to enact. These are major actions, large undertakings that you personally spearhead and executive.
Each hero will have one action they can undertake.
The nation, as a whole, will have two actions that it can execute, being widespread, national programs and initiatives.
When laying out the action format, the following format should be employed:
Personal:
1.
2.
Heroes:
Howard Hill - Admin 1 - [Action]
National:
1.
2.
Turn 1.
Each turn covers the span of 1 year.
[X] Strength Through Unity.
[X] The Administrator.
Trait Gained: Demagogue 1.
Hero Unit Gained: Howard Hill (Administrator 1)
You are a leader, and like any leader, you have presence. If the microphone was your gun and words your bullets, then the podium was the nest from which you made the nation a killing field. With a head full of acidic commentary that ranged from nasty to illiterate sociopathic warmongering despot, those that stood between you and the throne (there was a throne, actually, albeit only for a little while) were quick to try and keep out of the public eye. Of course, all the PR spin in the world doesn't actually get results when you're up against communist rebels, US-backed anarchists, Chechen ultranationalists, and even a couple Bosnians trying to institute their own mafia state. Thus, you were forced to rely (more than once on your zealous fighters and soldiers of freedom and fortune. Fighting was fierce, and while the people adored you, your enemies seemed to hate you with an almost polar equivalence. More than one attempt was made on your life, which certainly told you that you were moving in the right direction!
At your side was one H. Hill, a former bureaucrat that once worked for the European Union. An accountant of no apparent note, his experience in affairs of international commerce made him a ready ally. Persuaded to your cause by the promise of advancement and power under the new government, he is a talented administrator who has ensured your new government has sufficient manpower. He has a slight drinking problem, though his loyalty seems quite strong despite that.
In the end, however, the nation was soon yours and the people stand ready to enact your will.
GNP: $33B with -2% growth, Revenue $5B, Budget $9B, Debt $11B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (67%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption ???
Regulations: Business 5, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
The Budget
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
To call these times a bit rocky would be somewhat of an understatement. Having led your nation through might of arms and fiery rhetoric through a free-for-all between communist insurgents, capitalist-backed rebels, Russian saboteurs, CIA provocateurs, and a government ripe to implode, your nation has been a very, very busy warzone. Many people have fled the country in the interests of seeking asylum elsewhere.
Yet for those that have remained, you promise a new, stronger dawn.
Of course, even as you admire the nice sunrise from your palatial estate, you cannot quite help but find yourself a bit beleaguered by problems.
The first and foremost of these is that your nation's manufacturing mostly relies on a mixture of electricity and lumber, though you do have some petroleum and chemical refinement industries (though these are mostly foreign-held corporations that pay taxes locally.) Your nation does actually have the benefit of a small titanium vein (which is where a large part of your budget comes from), but exploitation of it is pretty much already peak without bringing in more cutting-edge tools and paying out the nose in the process.
Your budget is heavily skewed, to say the least. While you thankfully possess an administrator, who informs you that radical budget changes will have consequences (and suggests limiting such changes to no more than five percent a year, except in times of dire crisis), he also comments that a number of the bureaucrats that now fill the various departments and the national bank seem to be quite corrupt. "Skimming from the top" seems to be customary here.
As well as this, to say that the war has caused heavy infrastructure damage is an understatement. Running electricity was scarce in many areas before, but even the cities find themselves suffering rolling blackouts and brownouts. Running water thankfully isn't to much of an issue, seeing as most firefights don't take place underground, but there's still some minor damage -- and a lot of towns still rely on well water and old gas and water systems from back in the 60's.
Water contamination is another issue. Several companies, including one major US corporation, have been using fringe Eastern European nations as a dumping ground for toxic waste for many decades now. While this practice has not yet been instituted, there have been mentions of financial rewards for countries that allow them to "store" their hazardous waste within your borders. Without sea access, however, you are almost entirely dependent on your handful of semi-clean lakes and running rivers to supply the bulk of your drinking and industrial water supplies. With environmental regulation being so-so, even your own industries have been 'forgetful' now and again, especially during the course of the war when demand was high and regulations all but unenforceable.
Elsewhere, you find yourself confronted by a massive wealth of spending versus your rather meager revenues. Your military's arms and weapons are fairly modern, or at least, modern relative to your neighbors. The issue is that without continued military spending, or an increase in budget relative to the decrease in spending, the military is likely to find itself as a dearth of maintenance parts, munitions, and fuel to keep the armed forces running at peak. A dangerous situation for any fledgling despot.
With education at an all-time low and rationing only just recently having come to an end, things stay rather shaky, and this is only further compounded by the fact that the vice trades appear to be alive and well. Drug smuggling, human trafficking, and organized crime are alive and well. Meth is the drug of choice for the youth of this country given its cheap nature, and light bulbs tend to be used for things other than lighting given the current electricity problems. Such a thing can be a boon, however, if you're looking to make some revenues off the addictions and immense profits available to those who partake in the drug trade.
The question is, what shall your new nation be called, and how shall you handle its first few steps forward? You may look to your advisers if you wish for an explanation on any particular issues, but there is, first and foremost, an important question...
What shall this glorious new
NB: A Note on Turns.
Each turn, players will have two personal actions via their dictator to enact. These are major actions, large undertakings that you personally spearhead and executive.
Each hero will have one action they can undertake.
The nation, as a whole, will have two actions that it can execute, being widespread, national programs and initiatives.
When laying out the action format, the following format should be employed:
Personal:
1.
2.
Heroes:
Howard Hill - Admin 1 - [Action]
National:
1.
2.
Last edited:
Turn 1 - Q&A Session
To answer these delicious questions in an appetizingly linear order...
1) Broken isn't quite the appropriate term to use. Your tax code is effective, considering it generates revenues and actually gives you money with which to function by, but it doesn't work
2) You'd likely take a decent hit to popularity. Social programs includes a lot of the stuff like the unemployment/welfare systems that are keeping food in the bellies of the unemployed. There's also, admittedly, a fair amount of corruption that already interferes with said social programs, so while you might cut down some of the corruption in those systems by reducing funding, there's a good chance that a lot of people are going to end up going hungry if you hammer drastic cuts on social welfare systems.
3) Depends on how far you go. Legalizing marijuana probably won't net you too much in revenues -- it's not uncommon in usage. It's when you start legalizing amphetamines and harder drugs, pushing to have the transit of cocaine, heroin, and pharmaceuticals handled by the government or commercial entities, that you start seeing some major windfalls. If you let that trade grow and flourish, odds are you'll be able to reverse your growth issues pretty swiftly, and even accelerate a bit as the drug trade becomes part of your economy.
4) $2B if you let some major corporations move in their major petrochemical manufacturing and allowing them to just conveniently dump the runoff downstream into the ocean. It'll be your problem, after all, and they're willing to pay to let you deal with the headache of it. There'll be some air pollution as well involved in these facilities being set up, but they'll pay you a consistent $2B for the trouble.
5) Your relationships are currently nebulous. You're a newly-founded nation after all.
6) Pretty much everything that doesn't fall under the above. Stuff like your personal estate/budget, funding for secret government projects, money for diplomatic ventures/embassies, a national lottery (if you wish to enact such), etc.
7) That part of the budget is being revised. See below; but basically, current regulatory spending is mostly towards ensuring fair business practices, and preventing anything like corporate cartels from moving in and picking you apart like a flock of crows. Regulation spending also is part of the police budget.
8) No. Budget changes are, mercifully, free.
You actually raised a very good point. The budget for the nation is, currently, based off a nation that would actually be a fair bit larger IRL. As a fictional nation, even with its given territory, it actually has a bigger budget than it really ought to have realistically. Thanks for pointing that out -- I've readjusted the figures accordingly. My apologies to anyone this might have inconvenienced in changing, but I'll never deny honesty nor a well-made point!
GNP: $33B with -2% growth, Revenue $5B, Budget $9B, Debt $11B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (67%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption ???
Regulations: Business 5, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (67%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption ???
Regulations: Business 5, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Edit: Also, sorry Neptune! I missed your other points.
Nuclear waste isn't actually an element, or at least, a large one. There's some old leftovers of the Cold War/USSR era, but a lot of the more "modern" waste is runoff from pharmaceutical facilities, foreign-owned petrochemical plants, and industrial runoff of the more generic variety.
Last edited:
Turn 2 - A Latverian Film
January 13th, 2011.
Turn 2.
5GNP: $32B with -1.5% growth, Revenue $7B, Budget $9B, Debt $13.5B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (67%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 7
Regulations: Business 5, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
The Budget
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
Fine Dining in Latveria:
This year wasn't the best of years, but you knew it'd be rough going when you first saw the budgetary reports, and saw dear, sweet, dear dear Mr. Hill downing the good brandy like he was at a college frat party.
Still. You had at least a couple things to look forward to; like the nice, lavish party being held by one of your generals to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the government's fulfillment. It's easy to rub elbows with your set of skills, and your prestigious position, so it was little wonder when you showed up to a fairly warm reception. The hosting general, Mr. Bellikov, had laid out the red carpet -- literally! Your personal limousine rolling up to the front door of his estate to find it almost in as good of a shape as your own, though large sections of the manor are undergoing renovation. Large solar panels set along the roof provided power in spite of the unreliable electric grid, and the event itself is awash in "imported" liquors, some very ravishing women, and even a handful of dignitaries and modern-day aristocrats (though they'd never call themselves such.) Moneyed individuals, even from neighboring nations, seeking to enjoy your own nation's hospitality.
Though this is, foremost, a military event. It is why you know you're being watched by your generals quite keenly, your administrative blustering pushing down on the hands in the pots. Already, several officers have been found guilty of overindulging; egregious and unforgivable expenses. Things like reporting guns and weapons caches being below-standard, or overexpending munitions in the field that would be sold to black marketeers. Tactics that had been used in the Cold War, but old tactics of corruption would not hold up to a more modern era! Their commissions had been stripped and themselves thrown to the mercies of your courts, though they're viewed as fools who got greedy rather than poor victims of your administration. Thankfully, being a social butterfly has its perks.
Still. While this is nice, you're able to talk with some of the officers of your military, as well as various other types. You don't have military service in common, which is the glue that holds their loyalties and camaraderie together, but what you do have is an extensive repertoire of lurid stories to entertain the men with, childhood exploits that harken back to their own youths, and a wide array of jokes that you blast away with like the one with the milkmaid and the cow. You haven't developed an elite personal division of loyalists tonight, but you helped ease some of the tension thanks to your corruption hunt.
Which would be nice, if this wasn't taking place in a temple of what corruption can buy. Even a general's salary doesn't exactly cover a platoon of escorts (you know these women just native-born), top shelf liquor, and extensive personal renovations. For God's sake, there's actually a Picasso! How does he have a Picasso and you don't?!
Anyways. The evening goes on rather smoothly. In the end, you wind up with more than you bargained for; in some ways more than others. When the party starts to die down and the guests 'retire' to their rooms, you're invited up to the General's study, and find yourself seated with a third man. A rather aged man, with liver spots dotting his face and cheeks ruddy with his love of vodka, were you to guess. If someone wanted to off the leading government this would be the room to do it, but given that there's really nobody interested in immediately beheading you with the ability to do so at such a high-profile event, you feel pretty safe with this stranger; who is introduced as a Mr. Ivanov, from Russia. With a name as generic as "Mr. Smith", you pin him pretty easily as a spook.
The three of you talk for an hour or so before the real topic comes to light. "I have been talking with Mr. Ivanov, and he has some very interesting affairs. He is, was, KGB. Of course, they say that the KGB are dead, but it is amazing how hard dying can be."
"Cancer has yet to win." The aging KGB agent tells you, "But it will. Eventually. Which is why I have come to your nation. You seek to fight corruption, whilst others like you embrace it. That is interesting, but what is also interesting is the fact that your nation is young. I wish to raise a new crop of intelligence officers; something new. Something not seen in many years."
Sensing the flow of the conversation, you let him talk.
And talk.
And you sip your drink.
And talk.
In the end, he outlines a very interesting proposal, for all it states; This man, Mr. Ivanov, wishes to hand-pick a number of youths. Somewhere in the area of about a hundred children, which shall not be dearly missed, that will be abducted and placed into an intensive training program for the next ten years. By the time they reach maturity, they will be loyal agents of Latveria, elite soldier, assassin, and more rolled into one.
"Like one of those American films!" General Bellikov states gleefully.
Other Matters:
There is both good news and bad news, as there always is. The good news is that the waste dumping contract goes smoothly, and as fresh landfills spring up (as well as a handful of waste storage facilities), it looks like the damage to the ecosystem isn't some immediate catastrophic implosion. While the chemicals do end up getting introduced on their path down the river, your timely installation of a few purification plants and some new wells serves to keep drinking water fairly unaffected. Of course, there's some very sad stories of animals being displaced due to the filth introduced into their former habitats, but what value are bears and deer to two billion in the bank?
Also thanks to you, clean water is more readily available in the cities. There's long lines for the clean water, and some people even take day-long trips to the city from their remote villages for the purified water, but there's promise in the fact that people feel like the water's sanitary enough to drink for the first time in years. The war profiteers that had made a killing off bottled water are starting to see their margins thin out, and there's even mention that the cleaner water will be able to ensure healthier crops. The system's far from complete, however, and will still require a few years before the fresh water expands beyond a handful of wells and some draining aquifers into a truly national network. You got plenty of results, but also a much better image of the big picture.
On the topic of water, you also put your system under some stress. Testing for leaks, your rhetoric did wonders to assuage the populace at large. People are dumb, a person is smart. The problem is that for many of those who came under your search, they didn't see themselves as the problem. Skimming off the top was right, because as Mr. Hill looks through the various pipelines, a lot of the 'leaks' seem to come from Latveria's biggest banking institution. It had been a major banking institution even during the war, and in the aftermath, its stabilizing influence for the people was accompanied by a wealth of favortism. A number of executives in the bank seem to have their own money laundering scheme going on, supporting illicit trades and diluting the wealth earned with legitimate money. The problem is, a bit too much legitimate money gets washed back out into the accounts, creating a lot of seepage.
Even more problematic is that the banks aren't the only area where the leaks are occurring. A lot of the social programs are suffering their own abuses, thousands of little thefts. People claiming that dear old Uncle Grigori, who died two years ago, is still alive and well and deserving of his personal checks. To further complicate affairs is the rather self-evident fact that the military budget isn't entirely going into guns and bullets; while the military stays fairly well-funded, there's also an abundance of money that goes into the hands of senior officers. Several of the more obvious targets are easily indicted by their incriminating actions, but the truly high-up officers seem rather inopportune to hit. That being said, there's a lot of money going into the hands of Majors and Generals, and not all of it is ending up in the logistics office as it should. It's somewhat customary, but it's still money being lost.
Turn 2.
5GNP: $32B with -1.5% growth, Revenue $7B, Budget $9B, Debt $13.5B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (67%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 7
Regulations: Business 5, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
The Budget
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
Fine Dining in Latveria:
This year wasn't the best of years, but you knew it'd be rough going when you first saw the budgetary reports, and saw dear, sweet, dear dear Mr. Hill downing the good brandy like he was at a college frat party.
Still. You had at least a couple things to look forward to; like the nice, lavish party being held by one of your generals to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the government's fulfillment. It's easy to rub elbows with your set of skills, and your prestigious position, so it was little wonder when you showed up to a fairly warm reception. The hosting general, Mr. Bellikov, had laid out the red carpet -- literally! Your personal limousine rolling up to the front door of his estate to find it almost in as good of a shape as your own, though large sections of the manor are undergoing renovation. Large solar panels set along the roof provided power in spite of the unreliable electric grid, and the event itself is awash in "imported" liquors, some very ravishing women, and even a handful of dignitaries and modern-day aristocrats (though they'd never call themselves such.) Moneyed individuals, even from neighboring nations, seeking to enjoy your own nation's hospitality.
Though this is, foremost, a military event. It is why you know you're being watched by your generals quite keenly, your administrative blustering pushing down on the hands in the pots. Already, several officers have been found guilty of overindulging; egregious and unforgivable expenses. Things like reporting guns and weapons caches being below-standard, or overexpending munitions in the field that would be sold to black marketeers. Tactics that had been used in the Cold War, but old tactics of corruption would not hold up to a more modern era! Their commissions had been stripped and themselves thrown to the mercies of your courts, though they're viewed as fools who got greedy rather than poor victims of your administration. Thankfully, being a social butterfly has its perks.
Still. While this is nice, you're able to talk with some of the officers of your military, as well as various other types. You don't have military service in common, which is the glue that holds their loyalties and camaraderie together, but what you do have is an extensive repertoire of lurid stories to entertain the men with, childhood exploits that harken back to their own youths, and a wide array of jokes that you blast away with like the one with the milkmaid and the cow. You haven't developed an elite personal division of loyalists tonight, but you helped ease some of the tension thanks to your corruption hunt.
Which would be nice, if this wasn't taking place in a temple of what corruption can buy. Even a general's salary doesn't exactly cover a platoon of escorts (you know these women just native-born), top shelf liquor, and extensive personal renovations. For God's sake, there's actually a Picasso! How does he have a Picasso and you don't?!
Anyways. The evening goes on rather smoothly. In the end, you wind up with more than you bargained for; in some ways more than others. When the party starts to die down and the guests 'retire' to their rooms, you're invited up to the General's study, and find yourself seated with a third man. A rather aged man, with liver spots dotting his face and cheeks ruddy with his love of vodka, were you to guess. If someone wanted to off the leading government this would be the room to do it, but given that there's really nobody interested in immediately beheading you with the ability to do so at such a high-profile event, you feel pretty safe with this stranger; who is introduced as a Mr. Ivanov, from Russia. With a name as generic as "Mr. Smith", you pin him pretty easily as a spook.
The three of you talk for an hour or so before the real topic comes to light. "I have been talking with Mr. Ivanov, and he has some very interesting affairs. He is, was, KGB. Of course, they say that the KGB are dead, but it is amazing how hard dying can be."
"Cancer has yet to win." The aging KGB agent tells you, "But it will. Eventually. Which is why I have come to your nation. You seek to fight corruption, whilst others like you embrace it. That is interesting, but what is also interesting is the fact that your nation is young. I wish to raise a new crop of intelligence officers; something new. Something not seen in many years."
Sensing the flow of the conversation, you let him talk.
And talk.
And you sip your drink.
And talk.
In the end, he outlines a very interesting proposal, for all it states; This man, Mr. Ivanov, wishes to hand-pick a number of youths. Somewhere in the area of about a hundred children, which shall not be dearly missed, that will be abducted and placed into an intensive training program for the next ten years. By the time they reach maturity, they will be loyal agents of Latveria, elite soldier, assassin, and more rolled into one.
"Like one of those American films!" General Bellikov states gleefully.
Other Matters:
There is both good news and bad news, as there always is. The good news is that the waste dumping contract goes smoothly, and as fresh landfills spring up (as well as a handful of waste storage facilities), it looks like the damage to the ecosystem isn't some immediate catastrophic implosion. While the chemicals do end up getting introduced on their path down the river, your timely installation of a few purification plants and some new wells serves to keep drinking water fairly unaffected. Of course, there's some very sad stories of animals being displaced due to the filth introduced into their former habitats, but what value are bears and deer to two billion in the bank?
Also thanks to you, clean water is more readily available in the cities. There's long lines for the clean water, and some people even take day-long trips to the city from their remote villages for the purified water, but there's promise in the fact that people feel like the water's sanitary enough to drink for the first time in years. The war profiteers that had made a killing off bottled water are starting to see their margins thin out, and there's even mention that the cleaner water will be able to ensure healthier crops. The system's far from complete, however, and will still require a few years before the fresh water expands beyond a handful of wells and some draining aquifers into a truly national network. You got plenty of results, but also a much better image of the big picture.
On the topic of water, you also put your system under some stress. Testing for leaks, your rhetoric did wonders to assuage the populace at large. People are dumb, a person is smart. The problem is that for many of those who came under your search, they didn't see themselves as the problem. Skimming off the top was right, because as Mr. Hill looks through the various pipelines, a lot of the 'leaks' seem to come from Latveria's biggest banking institution. It had been a major banking institution even during the war, and in the aftermath, its stabilizing influence for the people was accompanied by a wealth of favortism. A number of executives in the bank seem to have their own money laundering scheme going on, supporting illicit trades and diluting the wealth earned with legitimate money. The problem is, a bit too much legitimate money gets washed back out into the accounts, creating a lot of seepage.
Even more problematic is that the banks aren't the only area where the leaks are occurring. A lot of the social programs are suffering their own abuses, thousands of little thefts. People claiming that dear old Uncle Grigori, who died two years ago, is still alive and well and deserving of his personal checks. To further complicate affairs is the rather self-evident fact that the military budget isn't entirely going into guns and bullets; while the military stays fairly well-funded, there's also an abundance of money that goes into the hands of senior officers. Several of the more obvious targets are easily indicted by their incriminating actions, but the truly high-up officers seem rather inopportune to hit. That being said, there's a lot of money going into the hands of Majors and Generals, and not all of it is ending up in the logistics office as it should. It's somewhat customary, but it's still money being lost.
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Turn 3 - Hollywood
Turn 3 - Hollywood
January 4, 2012
GNP: $31B with -0.5% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $16B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (63%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
Two years can be a lot of time. Last year, around this time, your nation was celebrating its first anniversary, and many were wondering if it'd last to its tenth. People are still wondering if there'll be a proper decade anniversary, but prospects are somewhat lifted by the growth of the economy. An economy that's still in a minor downward spiral, but one so slight that you don't get the sensation that the nation could enter into freefall at the drop of a hat. There's an increasing debt, an ominous debt at that, but you're actually seeming to guide the nation in the right direction. You haven't made any ridiculous and grandiose boondoggle projects, after all.
Still. You do have grandiose projects.
One of those is something that, in the back of your head, evokes the name "Treadstone". Of course, you're actually a competent political figure and not the parody of one, which is why this project has absolutely no name whatsoever on anything remotely approximating government documents.
If you aren't smart enough to be able to maintain an extremely heavily encoded system of personal records, odds are, you aren't smart enough to help run an unethical program reliant on child abduction, extreme physical and operant conditioning, and more than likely a fair amount of non-consensual experimental pharmaceutical applications. You spend a fair amount of time speaking with Mr. Ivanov, and while he doesn't seem all that eager to get into a staged fight with another Latverian intelligence service, he seems to do rather well once you assign him and his agency a rather healthy slush fund alongside normal operational budgets. It isn't long before the man has assembled a full platoon of children which, from what he has mentioned in discussions, should result in "perhaps a few promising hopefuls."
That such a program might take thirty children and leave only a few is either an ominous or promising sign of the results, dependent on your perspective.
In any case, you start to learn an appreciation for Mr. Ivanov's skills: Within just the span of a year the children are turned from (largely) sniveling urchins into a more solidified nucleus of terrified-but-obedient child soldiers. Children that are slowly starting to shed the youthfulness of their appearance and, from what few reports you have received, are actually responding rather well to the pharmaceutical programs Mr. Ivanov has tailored for them. Of course, your intelligence agents report that he's been bringing in people from around the world. A Chinese biochemistry expert. A former US Green Beret. He's building his own little nucleus of elite trainers for this group, slowly but surely.
Other Affairs:
There are, however, other affairs to attend to. Your political gestures towards your neighbors, looking to open up lines of communication, goes fairly well. Even the Hungarians seem willing to at least listen to you, and to open up some diplomatic channels in the form of landlines and ambassadorial presence. Envoys who seem to serve as a quick political line between your absolute authority and their respective political majority leaders.
Mr. Hill, true to form, proves himself an invaluable asset. His revised tax code not only serves as the foundation of a more efficient and straightforward tax system, but it actually has the added benefit of helping root out a major cause of corruption; tax collection. Apparently in the more rural areas of your growing nation there isn't too formal a system of taxes; with most taxes being levied by local "tax collectors" who, more oft than not, were simply a front for the organized crime in the region to collect their fees. By reorganizing the tax code to funnel tax collection through the postal system (which is one of your more secure and corruption-free offices), alongside some clever criteria selection, he manages to pull the rug right out from under the organized crime elements prevalent in your rural areas. Some of the more innocent tax collectors are fired, but it's a rather small minority given the prevalence of sticky fingers in your nation.
Finally, there is the matter of infrastructure. You actually cut down heavily on unemployment, though your debts rise up as your electrical and water expansion programs seem to run a bit overbudget. The results are, however, rather spectacular so far. With over a billion being dumped into setting up a working electrical grid again, you attract several Chinese electrical engineering firms' attention, who promptly work to bid against each other and even a US firm in getting rights to your electrical systems and to push your water infrastructure further. Within just a couple months you have engineers flying in, heavy cargo planes loaded with millions in computer systems and Chinese-made power transformers being shipped off. It doesn't take overlong for them to get the most critical work done; illustrating, in pidgin Russian, just how to operate the complex systems. Thankfully things aren't too radically sophisticated given your rather meager needs, and your engineers actually learn a fair amount while restoring the most critical grid requirements. By the start of the new year, your capital enjoys a 24/7 flow of electricity (if not total electrification), and your other cities have reliable enough power that manufacturing can start up in stride again. While most homes don't enjoy similar power services, at least your economy isn't stagnating due to lack of energy. Just a whole host of other issues!
Though there's a nice addition to all this; your water expansion plan, hammered towards the farmlands, helps to produce the biggest crop in years! Having transitioned from rationing into actually having a bit of a surplus of food helps ease grumblings about electricity in the populace, though the ongoing pollution has soured some of the food produced. Not enough to create any immediate health concerns, but a good fifth of the crops produced from this increased water coverage seem to have some mild contamination. Compared to rampant drug use and other issues, though, poor quality control will be last in line to kill people.
Turn Event: (57) One of your officers, a senior captain, took his vacation overseas! He visited India, and managed to schmooze his way into a meeting of several local stars. Unfortunately, he proceeded to make a total fool of himself, groping a B-list actress and proceeding to puke all over himself and a minor director. The man claims he was drugged, but right now, there's plenty of laughter on the internet over this little kerfluffle.
January 4, 2012
GNP: $31B with -0.5% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $16B at 4% Interest.
Population 5M (-0.2% growth rate, 4% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (63%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
Two years can be a lot of time. Last year, around this time, your nation was celebrating its first anniversary, and many were wondering if it'd last to its tenth. People are still wondering if there'll be a proper decade anniversary, but prospects are somewhat lifted by the growth of the economy. An economy that's still in a minor downward spiral, but one so slight that you don't get the sensation that the nation could enter into freefall at the drop of a hat. There's an increasing debt, an ominous debt at that, but you're actually seeming to guide the nation in the right direction. You haven't made any ridiculous and grandiose boondoggle projects, after all.
Still. You do have grandiose projects.
One of those is something that, in the back of your head, evokes the name "Treadstone". Of course, you're actually a competent political figure and not the parody of one, which is why this project has absolutely no name whatsoever on anything remotely approximating government documents.
If you aren't smart enough to be able to maintain an extremely heavily encoded system of personal records, odds are, you aren't smart enough to help run an unethical program reliant on child abduction, extreme physical and operant conditioning, and more than likely a fair amount of non-consensual experimental pharmaceutical applications. You spend a fair amount of time speaking with Mr. Ivanov, and while he doesn't seem all that eager to get into a staged fight with another Latverian intelligence service, he seems to do rather well once you assign him and his agency a rather healthy slush fund alongside normal operational budgets. It isn't long before the man has assembled a full platoon of children which, from what he has mentioned in discussions, should result in "perhaps a few promising hopefuls."
That such a program might take thirty children and leave only a few is either an ominous or promising sign of the results, dependent on your perspective.
In any case, you start to learn an appreciation for Mr. Ivanov's skills: Within just the span of a year the children are turned from (largely) sniveling urchins into a more solidified nucleus of terrified-but-obedient child soldiers. Children that are slowly starting to shed the youthfulness of their appearance and, from what few reports you have received, are actually responding rather well to the pharmaceutical programs Mr. Ivanov has tailored for them. Of course, your intelligence agents report that he's been bringing in people from around the world. A Chinese biochemistry expert. A former US Green Beret. He's building his own little nucleus of elite trainers for this group, slowly but surely.
Other Affairs:
There are, however, other affairs to attend to. Your political gestures towards your neighbors, looking to open up lines of communication, goes fairly well. Even the Hungarians seem willing to at least listen to you, and to open up some diplomatic channels in the form of landlines and ambassadorial presence. Envoys who seem to serve as a quick political line between your absolute authority and their respective political majority leaders.
Mr. Hill, true to form, proves himself an invaluable asset. His revised tax code not only serves as the foundation of a more efficient and straightforward tax system, but it actually has the added benefit of helping root out a major cause of corruption; tax collection. Apparently in the more rural areas of your growing nation there isn't too formal a system of taxes; with most taxes being levied by local "tax collectors" who, more oft than not, were simply a front for the organized crime in the region to collect their fees. By reorganizing the tax code to funnel tax collection through the postal system (which is one of your more secure and corruption-free offices), alongside some clever criteria selection, he manages to pull the rug right out from under the organized crime elements prevalent in your rural areas. Some of the more innocent tax collectors are fired, but it's a rather small minority given the prevalence of sticky fingers in your nation.
Finally, there is the matter of infrastructure. You actually cut down heavily on unemployment, though your debts rise up as your electrical and water expansion programs seem to run a bit overbudget. The results are, however, rather spectacular so far. With over a billion being dumped into setting up a working electrical grid again, you attract several Chinese electrical engineering firms' attention, who promptly work to bid against each other and even a US firm in getting rights to your electrical systems and to push your water infrastructure further. Within just a couple months you have engineers flying in, heavy cargo planes loaded with millions in computer systems and Chinese-made power transformers being shipped off. It doesn't take overlong for them to get the most critical work done; illustrating, in pidgin Russian, just how to operate the complex systems. Thankfully things aren't too radically sophisticated given your rather meager needs, and your engineers actually learn a fair amount while restoring the most critical grid requirements. By the start of the new year, your capital enjoys a 24/7 flow of electricity (if not total electrification), and your other cities have reliable enough power that manufacturing can start up in stride again. While most homes don't enjoy similar power services, at least your economy isn't stagnating due to lack of energy. Just a whole host of other issues!
Though there's a nice addition to all this; your water expansion plan, hammered towards the farmlands, helps to produce the biggest crop in years! Having transitioned from rationing into actually having a bit of a surplus of food helps ease grumblings about electricity in the populace, though the ongoing pollution has soured some of the food produced. Not enough to create any immediate health concerns, but a good fifth of the crops produced from this increased water coverage seem to have some mild contamination. Compared to rampant drug use and other issues, though, poor quality control will be last in line to kill people.
Turn Event: (57) One of your officers, a senior captain, took his vacation overseas! He visited India, and managed to schmooze his way into a meeting of several local stars. Unfortunately, he proceeded to make a total fool of himself, groping a B-list actress and proceeding to puke all over himself and a minor director. The man claims he was drugged, but right now, there's plenty of laughter on the internet over this little kerfluffle.
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Turn 3 - Q&A Session
The more actions and effort you put into a hero hunt, the better the results, but as it stands... you can try to do planning, testing, and recruitment execution all in one move if you want. If you want to comb through the potential heroes and get more bang for your buck (aka widening the search net and testing a bit more thoroughly those that come up), more actions is only your friend. Optimal would likely be 1 action to set up the hero testing criterion and parameters, 1 action to execute the hunt.
You can definitely push for international aid if you wish, but keep in mind that being seen as letting in a bunch of Red Cross and UN humanitarian workers can be a heavy undermining of your own rule and those who might otherwise see you as an independent power. A truly sovereign nation, some argue, should be able to provide for its people. Of course, if your choice is accepting handouts or letting people die in the streets... Sometimes a bit of humble pie isn't that hard to wash down.
To answer these....
1) Internet availability outside of the cities, and even inside of the cities, is incredibly sparse. Generally speaking there isn't a whole lot of fiber optic coverage, and most internet within your country is done via the telephone lines on 56k dialup connections (remember those?)
2) You have a pretty powerful voice for radio and a solid face for TV and posters. Most people in your country get the news via radio or newspaper, though televisions are fairly popular as well. Pretty much everyone has access to radio, and most families own a TV at this point (though there's been spotty TV coverage up until now.) Word of mouth is, unsurprisingly, pretty popular too. A lot of conversation takes place in the bars or local vice pits of choice.
3) You have a fair amount of control over the media, should you wish to exert it. You could nationalize television and radio broadcasts at the drop of a hat, though there'd be backlash, but there's fairly free broadcasting thanks to your high popularity at the moment. You're a popular person, and while you may have detractors, there's not much weight given to their voice at the moment.
4) Your currency, like your personal attributes, I leave for you to decide. The budget is given in USD because that's pretty much a universal world currency thanks to its relative stability and usage in international trade, but if you want to print out your own money to do business with in locally, that's perfectly fine by me.
5) Ordering more coins to be made (aka using inflation to increase your budget) would be capable of being done as either. However, you are strongly cautioned that such a thing is a dangerous path, because it hampers your growth in return for burning away debt (since you're using this new money to pay a debt off before its loss of value hits the market.)
The longer your nation stays afloat, the more interested companies will be interested in moving in, but they might stand to pressure you on 'allowances' as they do so. Things like refusing to set a minimum wage, making your prison(s) use mandatory prison labor instead of any rehabilitative efforts, etc.
I just do 'em myself, honestly. A friend of mine has a nice shiny diceroller that I just fire the 1d100 off of.
10 ranks is correct, but I caution you in that he hasn't even hit Admin 2 yet, though he's racking up experience points. As it is, the guy fixed your tax code in a way that made a lot of criminals close up shop, so take that with a grain of salt. Ish.
Very true. Researchers are extremely useful in that they can not only innovate, but they actually can innovate beyond the scope of their field. You don't need a Research 1 Hero that specializes in chemical waste, though they'll do all the better if you put them on their talent. You just need a Research 1 hero in general to do Research 1 projects (since, generally speaking, that'll mean they have the necessary skills to lead pretty much any research team to excel in their given project.)
Turn 4 - Tea & Crumpets
Turn 4 - Tea & Crumpets
January 8, 2013
GNP: $31B with 1% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $20B at 4% Interest.
Population 5.5M (1% growth rate, 3% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (66%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Heroes:
Howard Hill (Administration 1)
Dr. Ianto Hikari (Research 1)
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
This was a nice year, in review, because the year ended and you didn't have the misfortune of getting shot or having someone take out your personal jet with a MANPAD on its way back from India. Because that would really have soured your wonderful, wonderful nights. Nights spent debating that fantasy you had, long ago, of just taking out a couple hundred million in junk bonds, buying all the gold you can, and flying off to some remote island in the Mediterranean and paying the micronation there to never bother you again with anything regarding affairs of state.
Why, you ask?
Because you're pretty sure this nation is trying to give you an aneurysm or stroke. Which is fine, because you have an awesome medical staff that attend to your every need, but it's trying! To go through the laundry list...
First off, your military staff are fairly affable, but that's not the problem. By virtue of your social skills of course they're affable. The issue comes in the fact that, given your skill with oratory, you don't make gaffes as most people perceive them. You don't get drunk, you don't insult people. At the same time, however, no social interaction is a guarantee. Schmoozing is your forte, but the problems start to arise in that you encounter a fair amount of disconnect when doing the personal interactions. You, quite simply, just haven't led the same life these guys have. They tend to be cut from a harder grit in this area, and while you might pick that up yourself in time, you still have a bit of the softer edges of your education and socialite upbringing.
Still. Even if everything doesn't go swimmingly, you're making efforts, and that much is at least appreciated -- if not entirely successful -- by your military branches. This serves as fuel for your detractors to paint you as trying to cozy up as a military despot, but your approval rating is high enough for you to (quite simply) not give a damn.
In terms of the researcher hunt, you actually strike onto a promising candidate fairly quickly, and are doubly lucky to have the time to assess him more thoroughly. Here, at least, the universe takes pity on you. You procure one Dr. Ianto Hikari, a Chinese expatriate who landed himself in Latveria after an unfortunate run-in with the triads. His propensity for trouble carries on, as the good doctor seems to have indebted himself to the local mafia branch. It appears he's rather poor at dice, compared to his rather excellent work in chemical engineering. Even so, things aren't all that good for him in his brutal assault on one of the mob's collectors. You could no doubt hire him up with your protection and (potentially) paying his debts, but that will only put you further at odds with your nation's organized crime.
In terms of railroad development, Mr. Hill seems a bit in over his head. He's making a spirited attempt to try and create an efficient, streamlined development plan, but the issue arises that there's only so much advanced planning he can do without a concrete budget. What he ends up developing looks to be a rather tangled mess of interwoven tracks and stations servicing several lines simultaneously (as the stations and depots are the most expensive part.)
He also manages to condense down the costs to about $3Bn, but with the key note that these rail systems are effectively a penny-pinched budget. Substandard rail materials, surplus computing systems that are a few generations out of date, and more than a few locomotives built domestically to capitalize on local industry at the expense of quality.
But it's done, and the plans merely await your approval.
Supervision of the water grid helps you to clamp down on more egregious examples of overspending. Your program grows, and your entrenching of bureaucrats results in a reduction of the plan's speed. This puts a bit of pressure on the network when former emigrants, having fled the fighting, start moving back in to abandoned homes and empty communities. This rush of immigration causes a spike of your approval, though your water networks being carefully redlined by the hands that built them.
Your efforts to put diplomatic ties in India in the aftermath of your officer's Bollywood cockup could have had a better start. To say that Indian ambassadors could be a little more impressed is a bit of an understatement, and while they assign a lesser ambassadorial delegate as the highest authority in diplomacy with your growing nation, at least it's a start to more formal overtures. India doesn't quite laugh at you, but they certainly view you as more of a curiosity than a political contender.
Turn Event: (63) Immigrants! A large group of almost half a million former nationals, having fled during the fighting, has begun to swoop back in to your home soil. Your more nationalistic populace view them as cowards who fled when the times got tough, and should be treated as new immigrants and nationalized. Your more liberal supporters, however, see more people as only a good thing, and that they should be accommodated quickly.
January 8, 2013
GNP: $31B with 1% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $20B at 4% Interest.
Population 5.5M (1% growth rate, 3% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (66%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 2, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 1
Military Power: Air 1, Land 7
Heroes:
Howard Hill (Administration 1)
Dr. Ianto Hikari (Research 1)
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
This was a nice year, in review, because the year ended and you didn't have the misfortune of getting shot or having someone take out your personal jet with a MANPAD on its way back from India. Because that would really have soured your wonderful, wonderful nights. Nights spent debating that fantasy you had, long ago, of just taking out a couple hundred million in junk bonds, buying all the gold you can, and flying off to some remote island in the Mediterranean and paying the micronation there to never bother you again with anything regarding affairs of state.
Why, you ask?
Because you're pretty sure this nation is trying to give you an aneurysm or stroke. Which is fine, because you have an awesome medical staff that attend to your every need, but it's trying! To go through the laundry list...
First off, your military staff are fairly affable, but that's not the problem. By virtue of your social skills of course they're affable. The issue comes in the fact that, given your skill with oratory, you don't make gaffes as most people perceive them. You don't get drunk, you don't insult people. At the same time, however, no social interaction is a guarantee. Schmoozing is your forte, but the problems start to arise in that you encounter a fair amount of disconnect when doing the personal interactions. You, quite simply, just haven't led the same life these guys have. They tend to be cut from a harder grit in this area, and while you might pick that up yourself in time, you still have a bit of the softer edges of your education and socialite upbringing.
Still. Even if everything doesn't go swimmingly, you're making efforts, and that much is at least appreciated -- if not entirely successful -- by your military branches. This serves as fuel for your detractors to paint you as trying to cozy up as a military despot, but your approval rating is high enough for you to (quite simply) not give a damn.
In terms of the researcher hunt, you actually strike onto a promising candidate fairly quickly, and are doubly lucky to have the time to assess him more thoroughly. Here, at least, the universe takes pity on you. You procure one Dr. Ianto Hikari, a Chinese expatriate who landed himself in Latveria after an unfortunate run-in with the triads. His propensity for trouble carries on, as the good doctor seems to have indebted himself to the local mafia branch. It appears he's rather poor at dice, compared to his rather excellent work in chemical engineering. Even so, things aren't all that good for him in his brutal assault on one of the mob's collectors. You could no doubt hire him up with your protection and (potentially) paying his debts, but that will only put you further at odds with your nation's organized crime.
In terms of railroad development, Mr. Hill seems a bit in over his head. He's making a spirited attempt to try and create an efficient, streamlined development plan, but the issue arises that there's only so much advanced planning he can do without a concrete budget. What he ends up developing looks to be a rather tangled mess of interwoven tracks and stations servicing several lines simultaneously (as the stations and depots are the most expensive part.)
He also manages to condense down the costs to about $3Bn, but with the key note that these rail systems are effectively a penny-pinched budget. Substandard rail materials, surplus computing systems that are a few generations out of date, and more than a few locomotives built domestically to capitalize on local industry at the expense of quality.
But it's done, and the plans merely await your approval.
Supervision of the water grid helps you to clamp down on more egregious examples of overspending. Your program grows, and your entrenching of bureaucrats results in a reduction of the plan's speed. This puts a bit of pressure on the network when former emigrants, having fled the fighting, start moving back in to abandoned homes and empty communities. This rush of immigration causes a spike of your approval, though your water networks being carefully redlined by the hands that built them.
Your efforts to put diplomatic ties in India in the aftermath of your officer's Bollywood cockup could have had a better start. To say that Indian ambassadors could be a little more impressed is a bit of an understatement, and while they assign a lesser ambassadorial delegate as the highest authority in diplomacy with your growing nation, at least it's a start to more formal overtures. India doesn't quite laugh at you, but they certainly view you as more of a curiosity than a political contender.
Turn Event: (63) Immigrants! A large group of almost half a million former nationals, having fled during the fighting, has begun to swoop back in to your home soil. Your more nationalistic populace view them as cowards who fled when the times got tough, and should be treated as new immigrants and nationalized. Your more liberal supporters, however, see more people as only a good thing, and that they should be accommodated quickly.
Turn 5 - Going Mobile
Turn 5 - Going Mobile
January 8, 2014
GNP: $32B with 2% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $23B at 4% Interest.
Population 5.5M (1% growth rate, 3% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (68%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 4, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 4
Military Power: Air 1, Land 5
Heroes:
Howard Hill (Administration 2)
Dr. Ianto Hikari (Research 1)
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
It has been a rather violent year, all things told. You had come to expect violence when you expressed your plans in a room with your top officers and Mr. Ivanov (whose program was proceeding more or less as expected, with the occasional casualty due to its harshness.)
You had banged the drums of war, both theatrically and effectively, for your loyal soldiers. Men and women who had fought to secure the country being called to arms for a second time, stockpiles of weapons and ammo being distributed to help arm and armor the people that were about to march into the maw of a hellish and fiendish beast; the underbelly of corruption and crime that had been allowed to fester within your country for so long. From the capital to the countryside plans were laid out, then executed.
Many would harken back to almost half a decade ago, when gunfire was an everyday fact of life, though the nation's order is maintained while your forces move out. Corruption is a rather endemic thing to deal with, but at the same time, your officers know which side their bread is buttered on; and while a few issues of desertion arise in the wake of your militant purge, as well as officers a bit too deep into the pockets of the underworld, most of them quickly shape up. A number of them are involved to some degree with the corruption plaguing your country, but your hardline stance (and harder enforcement tactics) ensure that your military shapes up in order to support the police in their storming of crime's bulwarks.
Though to call it storming would be an understatement. When there's crack houses and meth addicts in vast supply, as well as an entire network of criminals, suppliers, movers, pushers, dealers, and more all came into the light. Much like flicking the lights on in a room of cockroaches, your intensive crackdown was able to apply the kind of deep drilling that simple audits couldn't provide. Your nation was a major transit hub for a large portion of air-based drug trade, dozens of small and middleweight cargo planes (usually leapfrogging around Eastern Europe) finding themselves abruptly yielding cargoes of heroin and even (in one more spectacular case) human cargo. VICE News even does a video documentary about your crackdowns, alternating between highlighting the brutality of your men's eager raids and the quantity of materials being confiscated.
Which brings its own set of interesting issues only a couple months into the actual raids -- first and foremost is the fact that Mr. Ivanov uses them to test out some of his more "promising" candidates. Young men, some as young as fourteen or fifteen, being put to test after years of intensive and lethal training. While you do not get to see the effects first-hand, the observers that watch them in action describe these kids as a mixture of lethal, calculating, and brutal. These are not the willowy, starving, drug-addled child soldiers of Africa.
These young boys are effective killing machines, and one particularly egregious example is that of a meth lab in one of the smaller towns. Built into an old coal mine, police had been fended away from the area by several high-profile police shootings, and the rumors of the presence of armor-piercing weaponry in the hands of the men that operated the lab.
Mr. Ivanov sent three of his candidates in.
24 hours later, there were 13 men found dead of knife wounds, 2 of broken necks, 4 dead of strangulation, and 23 in critical condition when one of the labs blew up, and a grand total of three captives-- the lab's senior chemist and two Bosnian 'tourists' that Interpol confirms as having ties to a major terrorist group.
The rest of the raids play out along similar lines, with your military forces preferring the doctrine of "Shoot first, ask later". Prisons aren't the most welcoming of places, especially in this part of the world, and many seem inclined to shoot it out with the soldiers dispatched (whether by actual choice or by whatever their drug-addled senses think best.) Thankfully, these incidents are mostly related to major criminal hubs; your soldiers won't, after all, get into shootouts over a couple drug addicts or the occasional meth dealer. Those matters are left primarily to local policing forces who, though gripped with their own corruption, tend to push down a bit more firmly now that they have military support should things go awry. Gone are the days of police officers refusing to patrol unless in force due to fear of criminal reprisal; of the gangster's friends waiting to visit their loved ones in the night after an honest day's work.
Escalation does occur, however, as it becomes evident that the flow of drugs and slaves does not entirely originate within your nation. Thankfully, your social programs are audited thanks to Mr. Hill, and the funds he procures from fixing 'minor' issues (such as the deceased receiving benefits) end up being reinvested in rehabilitation programs for those liberated from the roughest of vices. Clinics become available for those who were hooked on the deadly vices of benzodiazepines and alcohol, breathing some fresh life into the once-humorous notion of regulation of vices. You won't be banning cigarettes anytime soon, but at least the streets aren't awash in the zombie-like masses of the terminally addicted.
Unfortunately for every upside there is a downside. While the military acts swiftly and effectively to knock out the middle level of the drug trade, leaving the numerous and nasty roots to wither and die, they can only make tentative grabs at the upper rungs. The countryside villas of several drug lords turn into nasty firefights, some quite worthy of Scarface lore (and a free cookie to whoever wishes to write out such a fantastic cavalcade of violence.) In the end, however, their mansions are claimed; albeit with losses. Many more flee to Hungary and Croatia, where local corruption seems in full spin as the nations begin to apply pressure for you to 'ease back' on your strongarming of the local criminal trades.
Yet from the adoration of your people, it's obvious that you've done more for them in this last year than anyone in the region has in the last decade. Even if you're up to your eyeballs in debt because of it, you've cut unemployment down to a staggering 30%. Your military and law enforcement have brought more than a few of the major pushers and mobsters in Latveria to court, though many more lay dead for those that are captured alive. With the social programs finally being cleaned up, your attention can be focused on the fact that the electrical and water programs are finally completed to original standards. The water purity might not be up to more major standards, but the fact of the matter is that the water is drinkable, and more than that, it helps water the crops as well!
Even better is the fact that there's electricity lines running to even the outlying towns, and though a lot of power is imported (even more now with the system finally completed), there's a great deal of promise. The immigrants pouring in are glad to have social programs in place while they get back on their feet, and they even bring with them a fair number of trade skills that help round out the middle class and encourage growth to a new peak! Latveria is on the right track, even with its debts throwing blood in the water for debt collectors. A fact that calls for spending cuts sooner or later.
On the topic of research, developments in the solar grid are ongoing, and while Dr. Hikari isn't afraid of skirting the edges of patent laws (and taking 'inspiration' off foreign designs), he'd working long nights with plenty of coffee to try and make a workable renewable energy grid for your country; solar is ubiquitous, after all, though he does caution that you'll need to put money into the industries needed to produce the base materials before you can reliably implement a national-level program.
Turn Event: (18) Foreign Pressure. Hungary and Croatia seem to have taken exception to your raids, the fact arising that the drug routes which once flowed freely through your nation feeding their own criminal underbellies. Wealthy kingpins that reside comfortably within these nations, safe behind foreign borders, have been working to try and sour relations between your new power and these other ones. Thankfully your hefty military budget and competent generals let you hit well above your weight class, but the recent purges of criminals have taken some of your forces with it. You'll need time to rebuild your army back to what it once was, but at the same time, you can't quite afford to show this weakness in the face of national pressure.
Turn Event (x2!): Level Up! For managing to avoid dying, and for making it 5 turns, both you and Howard Hill have each earned 1 point. Howard has advanced to Administration 2. What your point goes into falls to you, oh mighty Lord of Latveria.
[Sorry it took a while to get that update out. Finally got back into working and doing things, which has helped rekindle creativity!]
January 8, 2014
GNP: $32B with 2% growth, Revenue $7B (Base: $5B, Other: $2b), Budget $9B, Debt $23B at 4% Interest.
Population 5.5M (1% growth rate, 3% Serbian immigrants)
Popularity High (68%), no overt revolutionary groups.
Internal Security 2, Crime Control 4, Civil Law 4, Corruption 5
Regulations: Business 6, Environmental 3, Egalitarian 4, Health & Safety 3, Vice 4
Military Power: Air 1, Land 5
Heroes:
Howard Hill (Administration 2)
Dr. Ianto Hikari (Research 1)
Budget:
Defense 35%
Education 5%
Health Care 10%
Law enforcement 2%
Regulation 4%
Social Programs 40%
Other 4%
It has been a rather violent year, all things told. You had come to expect violence when you expressed your plans in a room with your top officers and Mr. Ivanov (whose program was proceeding more or less as expected, with the occasional casualty due to its harshness.)
You had banged the drums of war, both theatrically and effectively, for your loyal soldiers. Men and women who had fought to secure the country being called to arms for a second time, stockpiles of weapons and ammo being distributed to help arm and armor the people that were about to march into the maw of a hellish and fiendish beast; the underbelly of corruption and crime that had been allowed to fester within your country for so long. From the capital to the countryside plans were laid out, then executed.
Many would harken back to almost half a decade ago, when gunfire was an everyday fact of life, though the nation's order is maintained while your forces move out. Corruption is a rather endemic thing to deal with, but at the same time, your officers know which side their bread is buttered on; and while a few issues of desertion arise in the wake of your militant purge, as well as officers a bit too deep into the pockets of the underworld, most of them quickly shape up. A number of them are involved to some degree with the corruption plaguing your country, but your hardline stance (and harder enforcement tactics) ensure that your military shapes up in order to support the police in their storming of crime's bulwarks.
Though to call it storming would be an understatement. When there's crack houses and meth addicts in vast supply, as well as an entire network of criminals, suppliers, movers, pushers, dealers, and more all came into the light. Much like flicking the lights on in a room of cockroaches, your intensive crackdown was able to apply the kind of deep drilling that simple audits couldn't provide. Your nation was a major transit hub for a large portion of air-based drug trade, dozens of small and middleweight cargo planes (usually leapfrogging around Eastern Europe) finding themselves abruptly yielding cargoes of heroin and even (in one more spectacular case) human cargo. VICE News even does a video documentary about your crackdowns, alternating between highlighting the brutality of your men's eager raids and the quantity of materials being confiscated.
Which brings its own set of interesting issues only a couple months into the actual raids -- first and foremost is the fact that Mr. Ivanov uses them to test out some of his more "promising" candidates. Young men, some as young as fourteen or fifteen, being put to test after years of intensive and lethal training. While you do not get to see the effects first-hand, the observers that watch them in action describe these kids as a mixture of lethal, calculating, and brutal. These are not the willowy, starving, drug-addled child soldiers of Africa.
These young boys are effective killing machines, and one particularly egregious example is that of a meth lab in one of the smaller towns. Built into an old coal mine, police had been fended away from the area by several high-profile police shootings, and the rumors of the presence of armor-piercing weaponry in the hands of the men that operated the lab.
Mr. Ivanov sent three of his candidates in.
24 hours later, there were 13 men found dead of knife wounds, 2 of broken necks, 4 dead of strangulation, and 23 in critical condition when one of the labs blew up, and a grand total of three captives-- the lab's senior chemist and two Bosnian 'tourists' that Interpol confirms as having ties to a major terrorist group.
The rest of the raids play out along similar lines, with your military forces preferring the doctrine of "Shoot first, ask later". Prisons aren't the most welcoming of places, especially in this part of the world, and many seem inclined to shoot it out with the soldiers dispatched (whether by actual choice or by whatever their drug-addled senses think best.) Thankfully, these incidents are mostly related to major criminal hubs; your soldiers won't, after all, get into shootouts over a couple drug addicts or the occasional meth dealer. Those matters are left primarily to local policing forces who, though gripped with their own corruption, tend to push down a bit more firmly now that they have military support should things go awry. Gone are the days of police officers refusing to patrol unless in force due to fear of criminal reprisal; of the gangster's friends waiting to visit their loved ones in the night after an honest day's work.
Escalation does occur, however, as it becomes evident that the flow of drugs and slaves does not entirely originate within your nation. Thankfully, your social programs are audited thanks to Mr. Hill, and the funds he procures from fixing 'minor' issues (such as the deceased receiving benefits) end up being reinvested in rehabilitation programs for those liberated from the roughest of vices. Clinics become available for those who were hooked on the deadly vices of benzodiazepines and alcohol, breathing some fresh life into the once-humorous notion of regulation of vices. You won't be banning cigarettes anytime soon, but at least the streets aren't awash in the zombie-like masses of the terminally addicted.
Unfortunately for every upside there is a downside. While the military acts swiftly and effectively to knock out the middle level of the drug trade, leaving the numerous and nasty roots to wither and die, they can only make tentative grabs at the upper rungs. The countryside villas of several drug lords turn into nasty firefights, some quite worthy of Scarface lore (and a free cookie to whoever wishes to write out such a fantastic cavalcade of violence.) In the end, however, their mansions are claimed; albeit with losses. Many more flee to Hungary and Croatia, where local corruption seems in full spin as the nations begin to apply pressure for you to 'ease back' on your strongarming of the local criminal trades.
Yet from the adoration of your people, it's obvious that you've done more for them in this last year than anyone in the region has in the last decade. Even if you're up to your eyeballs in debt because of it, you've cut unemployment down to a staggering 30%. Your military and law enforcement have brought more than a few of the major pushers and mobsters in Latveria to court, though many more lay dead for those that are captured alive. With the social programs finally being cleaned up, your attention can be focused on the fact that the electrical and water programs are finally completed to original standards. The water purity might not be up to more major standards, but the fact of the matter is that the water is drinkable, and more than that, it helps water the crops as well!
Even better is the fact that there's electricity lines running to even the outlying towns, and though a lot of power is imported (even more now with the system finally completed), there's a great deal of promise. The immigrants pouring in are glad to have social programs in place while they get back on their feet, and they even bring with them a fair number of trade skills that help round out the middle class and encourage growth to a new peak! Latveria is on the right track, even with its debts throwing blood in the water for debt collectors. A fact that calls for spending cuts sooner or later.
On the topic of research, developments in the solar grid are ongoing, and while Dr. Hikari isn't afraid of skirting the edges of patent laws (and taking 'inspiration' off foreign designs), he'd working long nights with plenty of coffee to try and make a workable renewable energy grid for your country; solar is ubiquitous, after all, though he does caution that you'll need to put money into the industries needed to produce the base materials before you can reliably implement a national-level program.
Turn Event: (18) Foreign Pressure. Hungary and Croatia seem to have taken exception to your raids, the fact arising that the drug routes which once flowed freely through your nation feeding their own criminal underbellies. Wealthy kingpins that reside comfortably within these nations, safe behind foreign borders, have been working to try and sour relations between your new power and these other ones. Thankfully your hefty military budget and competent generals let you hit well above your weight class, but the recent purges of criminals have taken some of your forces with it. You'll need time to rebuild your army back to what it once was, but at the same time, you can't quite afford to show this weakness in the face of national pressure.
Turn Event (x2!): Level Up! For managing to avoid dying, and for making it 5 turns, both you and Howard Hill have each earned 1 point. Howard has advanced to Administration 2. What your point goes into falls to you, oh mighty Lord of Latveria.
[Sorry it took a while to get that update out. Finally got back into working and doing things, which has helped rekindle creativity!]
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